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The Music in It

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Here in my part of New Jersey,
the 17-year cicadas have begun to emerge and seem to be everywhere. There are
literally thousands of them in my neighborhood alone, in various stages of
changing from hard-shelled nymphs to winged adults. Once out of the earth, they
climb to a rough surface where they struggle out of their shells (a process called molting). White
at first, they darken within an hour. The adults move to trees and shrubs where
they mate and lay eggs, completing a very short life cycle of just a few weeks.
Admittedly, they’re not the most attractive insects but they are completely
harmless, and their emergence every seventeen years is really amazing. Watching
and photographing the transformations going on all around me led me to think
about the process of transformation and how a transformation can be a revelation.

So … this week, let’s try writing
transformation poems, that is, poems in which something becomes something else.
One example might be the moment that something or someone you thought was
unattractive or plain was suddenly beautiful—a kind of “ugly duckling to swan”
idea. Or, a time when something you thought was awful turned out to be great.
You might even explore the “poem possibilities” of someone whose personality
underwent a transformation.

Things To Think
About:

Have you ever seen a
transformation of something in nature (caterpillar to butterfly, hatchling to
fully feathered bird)? How would you describe it?

How have you been transformed (by
an experience, a belief, another person)? What are the particulars of that
transformation?

Have you ever experienced an
emotional transformation (sorrow to joy, distrust to trust, alienation to
belonging)?

Have you ever seen something
physically changed (trees cut down to make a log cabin)?

Have you experienced a
transformation in a relationship (discord to happiness, marriage to divorce)?

Has there been a time when your
anger or resentment was transformed? How and why?

What have you learned from a particular transformation?

What does the word metamorphosis mean to you? How about trying a poem based on Ovid's Metamorphoses?

How about writing a poem from the
point of view of something in the process of transformation (tadpole to frog, nymph to dragonfly, embryo to baby)?

Tips:

Just as
transformations can be startling, so should your poems. A poem should astonish
its readers, either with an amazing story, with a unique view of something, or
with insights that challenge (or change) the reader’s thinking.

Your
poem should contain at least one image or idea that takes the reader’s breath away.

Work on
a sense of immediacy (even when you write in the past tense).

Stay
away from the passive voice, and be wary of words that end in “ing.”

Be
specific—avoid abstractions and generalizations. Imagery is key. Write about
things, not ideas. William Carlos Williams wrote: “No ideas but in things.” Tell it “like it is” in specifics, not
through philosophical musings on the “meaning of it all.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

I paint myself because I am often alone and I am
the subject I know best.

– Frida Kahlo

When
I first saw DaVinci’s Mona Lisa in
the Louvre many years ago, I understood why it’s probably the most famous
portrait in the world. Another famous portrait with which many are familiar is
Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring,
which inspired the 2003 film of the same title. There are, of course, countless
portraits in museums and galleries—faces that look back at us and make us
wonder about their painted subjects. This week, the goal is to write a poem in
which you create a “word portrait” of yourself (the person you know best, as
Frida Kahlo notes in the quote above). Importantly, you will need to be
descriptive, but the extra challenge is to be judicious in your use of
adjectives and details.

1. One
way to begin is to generate a list of words that describe or tell something
about you. In generating this list, think about your personality, interests,
relationships, memories, loves, dislikes, and desires.

2. Now,
imagine looking into a mirror that reveals more than your physical image. What
do you see? Add what you see to your list.

3. Next,
choose three items from your list and begin writing about them. You’ll need to
find connectors and complements for these items, and you’ll need to think hard
about yourself in terms of how the items from your list impact or reflect you
as a whole.

4. Begin writing (a free write first may
be helpful). Review what you’ve written and work the best of it into your poem.

5. Think in terms of metaphors. What
extended metaphor might you use to “word paint” your portrait?

6. Alternatively, create a word portrait of someone you
know. Follow the same general process, and be sure you select someone you know
well. A third possibility (if the first two don’t work for you) would be to
write a poem about a famous portrait (in writing a poem based on a painting,
you’ll be doing an ekphrastic poem—see prompt #79, September 19, 2011).

In Prompt #144, we wrote about forgiveness
and I mentioned the process of “letting go.” In any context, letting go is can
be a painful (but sometimes necessary) part of life. On the flip side, letting
go can free us in much the same way that forgiving does. Have there been times
in your life when you let something go and felt better for it?

In many ways, the past informs the present,
but letting go is about much more than the past. Importantly, letting go is
about freeing ourselves from fears, from impractical expectations, from uncertainties
about ourselves, and it’s about affirming our value in the world.

This week, write a poem about a time that
you let go.

Things to Think
About before Writing:

Is there a dream you’ve let go?

Is there a person or group of people you’ve let go? Have you ever ended
a relationship that wasn’t working? Have you ever deliberately said “good-bye”
to someone or something and felt better (or worse) for having done so?

Has there been a job you had to let go?

Have you ever let go of any personality traits, ways of thinking, old
habits?

Has there ever been a hurt or an anger that you let go?

Has there ever been something that you couldn’t let go?

Is there something (or someone) in your life right now that you’ve
thought about letting go?

Saturday, May 4, 2013

I recently came
across Whittier’s “Forgiveness,” which made me think of personal “forgiveness
experiences.” We all have them: things we’ve forgiven, things we can’t forgive,
hurts that haunt us, people who refuse to forgive us

How often in our lives have we
been hurt and carried that hurt with us, unable or unwilling to let it go? Holding
onto anger and resentment can cause us extreme emotional stress, and often, we
suffer more than the people who have hurt us. Such feelings can damage us
emotionally and spiritually, but getting past them, releasing anger,
resentment, and bitterness—forgiving—can lead us to inner peace. We all need to
“forgive and forget” (though forgetting is sometimes harder than forgiving); and
we all need to move forward, to let the past go. This can happen when we
forgive. That said, I know how challenging true forgiveness can be, but
forgiving (when we’re able to manage it) can be very freeing. Writing, too, can
be freeing. This week, let’s use poetry to work toward resolving some
forgiveness issues.

Suggestions:

Write a poem about someone
you’ve forgiven or someone you haven’t been able to forgive.

Write a poem about something
for which you need to be forgiven.

Write a poem about something
for which you’ve forgiven or not forgiven yourself.

Write a poem about something you’ve forgiven but can’t
forget.

Write a poem about a time in which you “let go” of
something (or someone) through forgiveness.

Write a poem about someone who refuses to forgive you.

Tips:

1. This prompt lends itself to a narrative poem (a poem in
which you tell a story).

2. Be careful not to over-tell; don’t include too many
details; watch out for overuse of adjectives; and be especially wary of overstating
sentiment and emotion. Focus on the elements of your story that readers will
relate to (the details may be different, but the response you want to evoke is,
“Yes, I know that feeling”).

3. Remember that your poem should contain no unnecessary
words, no superfluous phrases, and no explanations. Center on strong images.

WELCOME!

THE MUSIC IN IT

"The Music In It" is a blog for anyone interested in poets and poetry—the craft and the community.

The title comes from Countee Cullen, who wrote: "My poetry, I should think, has become the way of my giving out whatever music is in me."

Look for a new prompt or guest blogger every week or every other week, usually posted on Saturdays, and check the archives for older prompts and posts. Be sure to click on the poetry-related links in the sidebar.

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"Kenny has written some of the most hauntingly beautiful spiritual haiku I’ve ever read—haiku that take us as close to divinity as human language can get. Her haiku are spare and commanding, rich in imagery, and layered with meaning." (Alex Pinto, Tiferet)

“Traditional haiku, environmental haiku, psychological haiku, spiritual haiku—Adele Kenny has done them all. Her haiku are spare and powerful, always nuanced with rich symbolism. Her images and juxtapositions make readers hold their breath in wonder.” (Malachy McCourt, Author of A Monk Swimming)

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ABOUT WHAT MATTERS

"In Adele Kenny's finely wrought meditations on grief and loss, she never forgets that she's a maker of poems. What Matters straddles two of the exigencies of the human condition: diminishment and endurance. It abounds with poems that skillfully earn their sentiments." (Stephen Dunn, Pulitzer Prize in Poetry)

"These are poems that come to (poetic) grips with the issues of grief, fear, and death ... focused in a new and strong way." (Gerald Stern, National Book Award in Poetry)

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I’m the author of 24 books (poetry & nonfiction) with poems published in journals worldwide, as well as in books and anthologies from Crown, Tuttle, Shambhala, and McGraw-Hill.
I’ve worked as a guest poet for numerous agencies, have twice been a featured reader in the Dodge Poetry Festival, and my awards include two poetry fellowships from the NJ State Arts Council, the 2012 International Book Award for Poetry, and the Distinguished Alumni Award (Kean University). My book, A LIGHTNESS, A THIRST, OR NOTHING AT ALL, is a 2016 Paterson Prize finalist. In March of 2012, I was appointed Poet Laureate of Fanwood, NJ by the Borough Mayor and Council.
A former professor of creative writing in the College of New Rochelle’s Graduate School, I’m founding director of the Carriage House Poetry Series and poetry editor for Tiferet Journal. I give readings and conduct both agency-sponsored and private poetry workshops.

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ON THE TIP OF YOUR TONGUE

Ever find yourself in the middle of a poem and unable to find that one perfect word? Here's the link for a site that provides synonyms, antonyms, related words, similar sounding words, and much more. Easy to use!